Loma, the Kingdom’s first and only Thai fighter in mixed martial arts’ (MMA) premier promotion who trains out of Phuket’s Tiger Muay Thai & MMA Training Camp, won courtesy of a unanimous points decision against the American veteran.
“I’m just a small girl from Thailand,” Loma said post-fight, as she advanced her record to 2-1 since signing with the UFC last year.
“I expected Jinh to be a very good fighter and I prepared for her to bring her best. I expected her to wrestle. Now I just want to keep fighting and keep improving.”
“The UFC is absolutely amazing. I am so grateful to compete and make money for my family in a global pandemic and I can’t thank the UFC enough for the opportunity they have given me,” Loma added.
Loma demonstrated her Muay Thai pedigree by quickly taking control of the clinch and landing a series of elbow and knee strikes to her opponent who endured a cut under her right eye in the first round.
The only real time she was threatened was when Frey managed a takedown in the third-round but Loma was able to scramble free and resume her attack.
The judges scored the bout 30-27, 30-27, 29-29 to Loma who managed to land 60% of the significant strikes thrown throughout the contest according to UFC stats with 80 of them finding their mark as opposed to just 26 from Frey in return.
The match-up was made even sweeter given the fact that Frey, a Korean-American who grew up in the United States, was the Atomweight champion of Invicta FC – an all-women’s MMA promotion – when Loma first entered that promotion nearly three years ago. Both women competed for Invicta FC prior to signing to the UFC, and even back then, Loma knew she would have to fight Frey.
“When I signed with Invicta, I went to see who the champion in my division was, and I saw her. So I knew someday we would have to fight,” she said pre-fight.
Sunday was Loma’s third test in the UFC cage, after winning a decision in her debut last October against Aleksandra Albu, and dropping a decision loss to veteran Angela Hill in February. With Loma’s striking pedigree, winning Muay Thai titles both domestically and on the international level, her team – led by Tiger Muay Thai’s MMA Head Coach George Hickman – has been doing everything they can to propel Loma’s ground game.
The COVID-19 pandemic had affected her training, with a slight decrease in the number of training partners due to the international travel ban in Thailand. But Loma says, it’s actually been a blessing in disguise, in more ways than one.
“It’s really great having a close knit camp, because it’s helping with my language skills. It’s less people so I’m learning more English. But I really do like the busy gym with people coming from all over the world, it’s a great opportunity to learn so much,” Loma said.